The flustered looking guard ran with an unregistered speed, his leg muscles moved fluidly as expected of a trained royal guard. Finally coming to a stop in front of his fellow guards that stood watch at the palace gate, he kept gasping for breath,  doubling over with his hands holding his knees tightly.

The guards at the gate exchanged looks of confusion as they stood at attention, since being recruited as palace guards, they had never seen their superior looking as flustered as he did then, something about it put them on edge. So, they patiently waited for him to catch his breath as they silently wondered what new problem had arisen.

When after a short while, their superior looked up at them, they knew then that they were wrong about how peaceful the night was, due to the previous events their thoughts went to a new murder victim but as it is sometimes with thoughts, not all turn out to be true.

"Riot. By. Some. Unknown. Individuals." their superior said, taking a deep breath with each word, just then two guards arrived coming from the same direction as their superior.

The guards at the gate recognized them to be new recruits, no questions needed to be asked, it was apparent how serious the riot was. Their superior only nodded at the new arrivals before dashing off in the direction of their arrival. With only a momentary hesitation, the guards who had thought all they would do that night was stand watch at the palace gate and perhaps doze off a bit, took off after their superior leaving the two new and confused recruits to stand guard at the gate.

*'*'*'*'*'*'

Under the moonless sky, a chuckle rose into the air just barely above a whisper. It was a laugh of disbelief and satisfaction. Everything was going according to plan and as expected the royal guards of Silva had reacted exactly as their master said they would.

"I cannot believe they fell for that lousy trick, Silva's guards are really stupid."

The dark cloaked male whose chuckle had risen to the air turned to his bright haired companion, "With the kingdom on edge, it is easy for any fool to distract the royal guards." he paused, his smirk falling from his tight face, "it was not a lousy trick though, it would take till dawn to put a stop to the riot."

"More than enough time for our plans." his second companion added. "I'm sure the palace is in chaos right now."

"Our master is indeed a genius." the bright haired companion said, his voice filled with admiration and awe.

He only nodded, their master was indeed a genius.

An owl's hoot suddenly filled the air, to other person's ears it would only be recognized as the sound of the nocturnal creature, but to them it meant more than that.

Sharing a look with his companions, he brushed off his cloak and dropped down from the roof of the building they had been watching from. Thuds from behind let him know his companions followed suit. With no hesitation, he walked with purpose towards the exchanged guards at the gate, who did a poor job of raising their swords, he scoffed, what did the idiots think they could do, when they could not hold their own swords properly?

Stepping into the light from the torches that hung on the dark stoned wall, he gave a smile that looked foreign on his face, the guards slowly lowered their swords, their eyes still holding suspicion.

"Have you not been taught a thing? How dare you raise your swords against a fellow guard and that too your superior?" he spoke in the haughty voice he knew most royal guards bore.

The suspicion in their eyes immediately changed to shame, regret and whatever that emotion was that came with being reprimanded.

The guards brought their eyes down, perhaps too ashamed to look up at him, he smirked deeply.

"We're sorry sire, we thought—" one of the guards started what he knew would be a long and grovelling apology, of which he had no time for.

"Whatever your reason, it is of no importance." he flicked his eyes to the side at the shadows slowly advancing, "though with all the chaos, I do wonder..."

"Yes sire?" they both responded.

He shrugged, he had their full attention now. "If all the guards and perhaps the princes are attempting to put a stop to the riot, then who's guarding the newly arrived princess."

The guards exchanged looks, just when they would reply, an alarmed look crossed their faces as they both got struck on the head by his timely companions, "Do not worry, I will give my all to take care of the princess." he said as the guards slumped to the floor.

Then to his companions, "Drag their bodies to where no one would find it, then change into their uniforms. Do not get caught."

"Can we keep the boots?" his bright haired companion asked.

"Whatever you wish."

With a last nod, he strode off into the palace, wearing the guard's uniform had been a perfect disguise especially in deceiving new and stupid recruits. He walked past the courtyard into the palace, with it being so late at night and majority of the guards off stopping a fake riot, it was easy to enter the palace.

The few guards and maids in passing only nodded in greeting, after all who would stop him when he was dressed as them and they were all distracted by the riot.

The grandeur of the palace walls almost made him forget his mission, he chuckled, spite filling him. Why should some enjoy such luxury and others live in suffering? It didn't matter though, he thought, it would soon be over for dear king James and his royal family.

Taking a look around the empty foyer, he walked in the direction his master had said was the kitchen, it was pure chaos with all the maids trembling with fear and gossiping about the riot.

"This is the work of those brotherhood, I tell you." said the maid with a face that screamed I'll destroy you with my mouth. Then in a whisper, she continued, "they really mean business in usurping the throne." the other maids all nodded in response, voicing out their agreement.

"Shhh, you'll get executed if someone hears you." the dark cloaked male made sure to keep his head down as he whispered back to the maids. They all went silent, but none stopped him to ask about his business. He had become a guard after all.

He turned and walked through the back door, following the stoned path that finally led to the large palace grounds.

Turning to his right, he took the wide path till the garden came into view, and just above the garden was the location of his target. 

Pleasure filled him, only a matter of time and his mission would be complete. A mission he was none too happy about, it was an absurd order from his master, one he had to obey nonetheless.

From his calculations, the princess's room was in the west wing and she was the only occupant, everything seemed to work in favour of his mission, that was good since it saved him the stress of making it work himself.  He crouched low and watched as she stripped bare and put on a night dress. He had to admit she had a nice body, the kind he would spend nights fantasizing about.

Too bad he couldn't have his way, it would have been a long and fun night.

Watching how she looked at ease, he could only guess she didn't know about the riot. He wasn't surprised, the west wing was the farthest in the palace, so news took longer to reach there. Either way, it made his job easier.

He couldn't tell how long he stayed there but when he finally thought she had fallen asleep, he got up from his position, digging his hands into his pocket, he brought out two pieces of black cloth and tied one over his face, the other he tied around his head.

Walking out of the garden, he started his climb over the wall, in an acceptable amount of time he got to the rail and swung his leg over landing on the balcony. It also helped that the wall had countless protruding blocks, as he earlier thought, everything was working in his favour.

Pushing the balcony door, he found it was locked, that didn't discourage him though as he grabbed a pin from his boots and started to pick the locks. After a while, the door opened with a click, pushing it further open, he walked in silently than he had ever done before.

The candle shone dimly casting a soft golden light on the princess's face as her chest rose up and down, her hair as the fire that danced on the candle spread around her head, high cheekbones and thin lips that were as rosy as her hair, she was beautiful in a vengeful sort of way.

Like a bloody sword.

He found himself sighing, and getting curious of the look in her eyes when he took—

—the male shook his head, forcing the dirty thoughts from his mind, he had a mission to carry out, he could not get distracted.

Walking closer to where she lay, he brought out his dagger, wrapping both hands around the hilt he raised it high above his head, bringing it down slowly, and just when it would plunge into the area around her collarbone, a pair of stormy grey eyes looked up at him. But they weren't filled with pleasure as he had fantasized, instead they were as hard as the grey stoned walls of Silva.

A chill went through him, and his momentary hesitation was enough for princess Sara to grab hold of his hands, her grip was unbelievably strong, what happened to being a delicate princess? Fortunately or unfortunately —depending on whose perspective— he regained quickly from his shock and twisted his hand out from her grip, with speed he slashed his dagger over her arms earning a deep cut.

He relaxed slightly, that would keep her—

—her knees suddenly shot up hitting him in his balls, the pain made him double over, the dagger falling from his hands. She didn't wait for him to recover though, before another kick came, this time her knee going for his gut knocking the air out of him.

He didn't even realize she was out of the bed already, her hand grabbed the dagger he had dropped and she pointed it at him.

"Who are you? Who sent you to attack me?" her voice came out strong and devoid of sleep.

Standing up to his full height, he adjusted the mask on his face, it wouldn't do him any good if she saw his face. Smirking, he drew closer, "I had no plans of attacking you princess, just a slight cut is all." he said as he eyed the cut on her arm.

"Who are you?" she questioned loudly.

He shrugged, "Just an ordinary guy, princess." he turned trying to get close to the balcony, his mission was over after all.

But as quick witted he had found out she was, she caught on to his plan and backed him away from the balcony with the dagger still pointed at him.

He raised both hands up, smirking, though she couldn't see it, "As much as I'd love to be alone in this room with you, I have to leave now princess. Duty calls you know." he chuckled.

Princess Sara didn't find his joke funny though, her hands tightened round the dagger instead. "You can only leave once you're dead." she said as turned the dagger in her hands and charged at him.

He sighed, as much as he wanted to avoid it, his only way out of there was fighting her and escaping. Thinking back, he realized he hadn't planned his escape, how stupid he had been. Only a few things were going to work in his favour then.

He got out of his mind just in time to block the incoming dagger with his hand, the sharp blade digging into his palm. A few inches more and his neck would have suffered instead. "Come on princess, you are not going to kill me, are you?"

Blood gushed out from his palm as princess Sara pulled out dagger. Expecting another attack, he reached for a weapon, but the clatter of the dagger on the floor stopped him. He dropped his injured hand down as the blood dripped on the ground.

Princess Sara turned her cold gaze to him, "Who sent you?"

He felt oddly offended by her question, was she trying to say, he was too dumb to be the mastermind?

He took several steps towards her till he could count the little dots of freckles on her face, she tensed up but did nothing. "The one who sent me, is the one who will destroy the royals."

"Your highness, are you okay?" came the loud voice of supposedly a guard, the opening of the door was enough distraction for him to dash out of the room. He then turned to the red haired woman whose stare –he was sure– could freeze water.

"Be prepared, princess."

He jumped out of the balcony landing on his back, the pain that shot through made him wonder why he even tried at all. 

Though he was in intense pain, he knew he had to get out of the palace quickly, getting caught would ruin all of his master's plans. So he half ran half limped out of the palace, aware of the pair of grey eyes that watched him.